Car-seal



(ModeL) J. T. GOPPETT.

GAR SEAL.

Patented Jan. 17, 1898.

HM [III-Emmi '5 iHIll" PATENT union.

JOSEPH T. GOFFETT, OF DUBUQUE, IOIVA.

CAR-SEAL;

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 490,018, dated January1'7, 1893.

Application filed August 19, 1892. Serial No. 4%,515. (Modeld To allwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J ossrn T. GOFFETT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Dubuque, in the county of Dubuque and State of Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Seals; and I dohereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the artto whichit appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has relation to metallic seals for cars and the like, andamong the objects in view is to provide a simple, cheap and efficientseal by which a car may be quickly sealed, and tampering with the saidseal readil'y detected.

The invention consists in the peculiar construction, arrangement andcombination of parts as hereinafter-fully described illustrated in theaccompanyingdrawings and pointed out in the appended claims.

7 ing sleeve slid back to show plainly the construction of the lockingend a of the said strip. Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 a planview showing the ends of the seal locked together. Fig. at is a verticalsection showing the'manner of securing the sleeve in place. Fig. this asimilar view showing the ends of the strip in looking engagement andalso showing the indentation in the sleeve and strip. Fig. 5 is aperspective view illustrating the manner of sealing a car.

In carrying out my invention I provide a narrow strip A of metal, suchas sheet tin, brass, or the like, and of any desired length, though inpractice a length of from eight to ten inches would be sufficient. Nearthe end a, of said strip I provide a slot B of the shape shown, that isto say, having the inclined portion I), and the horizontal portion 7).The point 11 of the strip formed by reason of the slot B is bentslightly upward as shown in Fig. 2 for a purpose presently explained.Near the opposite end a of the strip I provide a triangular-shaped slot0 having a horizontal portion 0 and the points 0 c of the strip are bentdownwardly as shown in Fig. 2.

Upon the strip is mounted what I term the locking sleeve D which isadapted to be slid freely upon the strip over the projecting points a oand be secured firmly in place by means of the bent-over end cl of thestrip which end is soldered to the upper face of the sleeve as showninFig. 4. This sleeve should be of sufficient internal diameter to permitof the end a, of the strip with its projecting point 5 being passedwithin the sleeve to engage the points 0 c. The sleeve should also be ofsuificient length to completely cover the locked ends of the strip andprevent access to the locked points. The peculiar shape of the points 12c cand the manner of bending said points relatively to each other asdescribed enables the engagement or looking together of said points tobe readily effected, said locking being accomplished by bending thestrip into circular shape as seen in Fig. 5 and then passing the end a,along beneath the end at until the point e clears the edge of thepoint/Z) after which by drawing the end a of the strip in a contrarydirection the point a will engage beneath the point 12 and theportion 1) of slot B lying within the portion 0 of slot 0. It will benoted that by reason of the downwardly projecting point 0, the end a, ofthe strip will be prevented from becoming accidentally disengaged fromthe end a, that is to say, the point 29 will be prevented from beingaccidentally withdrawn from the slot 0, but said disengagement might beeffected by turning the end a, diagonally with relation to the end a andthen pressing the point b out of the slot 0. Such a manipulation of theend a, of the strip would however be prevented by the sleeve D which,fitting closely over the locked ends prevents any turning of them andany tampering therewith without being detected.

To afford additional means for securing the sleeve D in place after theends of the strip are in locking engagement I indent the said sleeve andstrip as seen at (1', Fig. at. Such indenting is however not absolutlynecessary since the soldering of the end (Z, of the strip to the sleevewill be found sufficient for the desired purpose, though for additionalsecurity in the use of my device I prefer to form the indentation d asdescribed.

In Fig. 5 I have shown the manner of using my invention for sealing acar, the strip bein g passed through an opening in the locking pin E,and then through the staple after which the ends of said strip arelocked together as hereinabove described.

What I claim is:

1. In a car seal, the combination with a metallic strip provided nearone end with an upwardly bent tongue, an upwardly bent portion at itsopposite end,and two downwardly bent tongues adjacent thereto, of asleeve mounted upon said strip and soldered to the said upwardly bentportion of the same, said tongues being adapted to interlock, in themanner and for the purpose specified.

2. In a car seal, the combination with a metallic strip provided nearone end with the slot B, the upwardly bent end d, the slot C adjacent tosaid bent end, the upwardly bent tongue b and the downwardly benttongues c c, of the sleeve D mounted upon the strip over the tongues cc, and soldered to the end 01, and an indentation in said sleeve andstrip, for the purpose specified.

3. In a car seal, the combination with the metallic strip A providednear one end with the slot B consisting of the portions 1) Z), theupwardly bent end (1, of said strip, and the slot 0 adjacent to saidbent end, and having the portion 0 the upwardly bent tongue 0 and thedownwardly bent tongues c c, of the sleeve D mounted on thestrip overthe tongues c c, and an indentation in said sleeve and strip, as and forthe purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I affix m y signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH T. GOFFETT.

\Vitnesses:

ALEX SIMPLoT, G. A. BARNES.

